Control systems for power-actuated extensible seat structures



' July 24, 1962 R. J. MURPHY 3,045,292

CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR POWER-ACTUATED EXTENSIBLE SEAT STRUCTURES Filed Sept. 16. 1957 3 SheetsSheet 1 N w m k 00 N u S Q S Q m i Q \m in E I 2 R R N 9. R R

INVENTOR. Raymond J. Murphy BY Atty.

July 24, 1962 R. J. MURPHY 3,045,292

FIG. 2

Atty.

July 24, 1962 R. J. MURPHY 3,045,292

CONTROL. SYSTEMS FOR POWER-ACTUATED EXTENSIBLE SEAT STRUCTURES Filed Sept. 16, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet :5

FIG. 5

INVENTOR. Raymond J. Murphy United States atent O 3,045,292 CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR POWER-ACTUATED EXTENSIBLE SEAT STRUCTURES Raymond J. Murphy, Bonne Terre, Mo., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Medart Lockers, Inc., a corporation Filed Sept. 16, 1957, Ser. No. 683,996 9 Claims. (Cl. 20-1.126)

become a common expedient to utilize some type of extensible seating structures or so-called extensible gym seat. Such structures ordinarily consist of a series of strong frames which nest one within the other and carry horizontal seatboards and footboards in suitably spaced relation to provide a tier of bleacher-like seats. When not in use, the entire structure is telescoped or retracted compactly against the wall so that the seatboards and associated foot-boards lie in vertically spaced relation one above the other. The size and number of seats included within various seating structures-of this type will vary, depending upon the design of the manufacturer and the requirements of the particular gymnasium involved in the installation. The usual type of telescoping seating structure will range in length from 12 feet to 18 feet and from six or seven tiers of seatboards up to twenty-four tiers, depending upon the height and size of the gymnasium. Furthermore, a gymnasium installation usually involves a number of such sections arranged in side-by-side order along one or more walls of the building. Inasmuch as seating structures of this type must be fabricated with a maximum factor of safety to support the load of people seated thereon, telescoping seating structures are quite heavy and difficult to-move from open to closed position and, similarly, from closed to open position. It has, therefore, become necessary and desirable to provide poweractuated moving devices for accomplishing the opening and closing of such seating structures, as has been more fully described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,898,639, issued to me on August 11, 1959.

It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to provide a control system for operating powerdriven extensible gym seats.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a control system of the type stated which can be readily utilized with power-actuated gym seats in a wide variety of different types of installations irrespective of the size and number of the gym seats involved.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a control system of the type stated which is simple and economical in construction and can be safely operated by the user without extensive experience or instruction.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings- FIG. 1 is a plan view of a gymnasium equipped with a plurality of extensible gym seats;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a corner of the gymnasium equipped with extensible gym seats and the control system of the present invention;

' FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the control box forming a part of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentarylsectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic wiring diagram of the control system forming the present invention.

3,045,292 Patented July 24, 1962 Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention, G designates a conventional rectangular gymnasium consisting of the usual hardwood playing floor 20 which is enclosed within four straight walls 21, 22, 23, 24, the latter, for purposes of illustration, being provided with entrance doors 25, '26. It will, of course, be understood that the particular manner of construction and lay-out of the gymnasium A is not, in and of itself, a partof the present invention and, therefore, need not be discussed in detail. Rigidly mounted upon the walls 21, 22, 23, are thirteen extensible gym seat units, which, for convenience, have been designated in consecutive order by the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, '7, 8, 9, 10, -1-1, 12 13, and are of power-actuated type, such as the gym seat unit A moreparticularly described in the above-mentioned United States Letters Patent No. 2,898,639. Since these extensible gym seat units are described in full detail in such application, it is not necessary to 'repeat such description herein, except to note that the various gym seat units are driven by separate electric motors, which, for convenient reference, have been designated in the wiring diagram of FIG. 5 as M M 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1s Provided for operating the control system of the present invention is a switch-box 27 having a base panel 28 secured thereto by means of screws 29. The switch-box 27 is, for convenience, preferably mounted upon the Wall 24 adjacent to the entrance door 26, although it may be mounted at any other convenient or accessible location, if desired, Operatively mounted upon the base-panel 28, and extending interiorly within the switchsbox 27, is a conventional key actuated main switch 30, and a barreltype routing switch 31. Also Operatively mounted on the base panel 28 is a pair of pushbutton switches 32, 33, of the two-bladed contactor type, each having pushbutton plungers 34, 35, respectively, which are nominally biased outwardly to circuit-open position by springs 36, 37, so that the switches 32, 33, will ordinarily remain in circuit-open position unless manually held in closed position. The routing switch 31 is provided with a shaft 38 which projects forwardly through the base-panel 28 and is exteriorly provided with a knob 39 having an indicating pointer 40.

The several motors M M M M M M M M M M M M M are connected to the switch-box 27 substantially in the manner shown in the wiring diagram, FIG. 5. Thus, when it is necessary to open one or more of the extensible gym seat units, the custodian of the building, or some other person charged with the responsibility, may insert a key within the key switch 30 and turn it to closed position. This key svn'tch 30 is of the conventional type and merely serves to lock the circuit and prevent unauthorized operation of the control system. Thereupon, the knob 39 is turned so that the indicating pointer 40 is adjacent to the number corresponding to the particular gym seat unit which is to be operated. If, for example, the indicator 40 is turned to the numeral 7, as shown in FIG. 3, the contactor of the routing switch 31 will be so positioned as to connect the circuit to the motor M as shown in FIG. 5. The pushbutton switch 32 associated with the designation IN will then be pressed down and held, thereby completing a circuit between the main electrical supply line through the key switch 30 to the motor M", energizing the motor M and moving the gym seat unit 7 outwardly. If it is desired to open the gym seat unit 7 only partially, the switch 32 may be held in closed position until the gym seat unit 7 has opened to the desired degree. Thereupon, the switch 32 may be released, breaking the circuit to the motor M If, on the other hand, it is desired to open the gym seat to the full extent, the switch 32 is held down until the gym seat unit 7 is fully open. At this point, a limit switch which is built into the gym seat unit will operate to interrupt the circuit to the motor M and prevent further outward travel of the gym seat unit 7. This limit switch and its operation is entirely conventional and is, therefore, not shown or described in detail.

Conversely, when it is desired to close the gym seat unit 7, the switch 33 may be pressed downwardly, completing a circuit to the motor M but reversing the polarity thereof and causing the motor to rotate in the reverse direction, so as to retract or draw the gym seat unit 7 into closed position. In this case also, the gym seat unit 7 is provided with a built-in limit switch to interrupt the circuit to the motor M' when the gym seat unit 7 is in fully closed position. Since this limit switch is also entirely conventional and operates in the usual and wellknown manner, it is not shown or described herein.

It will thus be evident that any one or more of the gym seat units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 1-1, 12, 13, may be opened or closed in the manner just described in connection with the specific gym seat unit 7 and, by rotating the knob 39, any desired sequence or order of operation can be achieved.

Furthermore, since the switches 32, 33, are of the springpressed type, they will always operate to break the circuit whenever they are manually released, thereby permitting the operator to bring any gym seat unit to an immediate stop in case of emergency or other spec fic need.

It should be understood that changes and modifications in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the control system for poweractuated extensible seat structures may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A control system for use with a' plurality of independent electrical motors each provided with a pair of terminals for operative connection to a pair of power lines and each adapted to operate in reverse directions when the connections between the power lines and said terminals are reversed, said system comprising conducting means for connecting one terminal of each of said motors in common, directing means for connecting the other terminal of any of said motors to a connecting point, and actuating means for operatively connecting said power lines to said conducting means and connecting point and adapted for selectable actuation whereby the connections of the power lines to the conducting means and the connecting point may be selectably interchanged thereby causing any pre-determined motor to operate in a preselected direction, said directing means and actuating means being contained within one switch box for remote control operation of said motors.

2. A control system for use with a plurality of independent electrical motors each provided with a pair of terminals for operative connection to a pair of power lines and each adapted to operate in reverse directions when the connections between the power lines and said terminals are reversed, said system comprising conducting means for connecting one terminal of each of said motors in common, selectable switching means for connecting the other terminal of any of said motors to a connecting point, and actuating means for operatively connecting said power lines to said conducting means and connecting point and adapted for selectable actuation whereby the connections of the power lines to the conducting means and the connecting point may be selectably interchanged thereby causing any pre-determined motor to operate in a preselected direction, said selectable switching means and actuating means being contained within one switch box for remote control operation of said motors.

3. A control system for use with a plurality of independent electrical motors each provided with a pair of terminals for operative connection to a pair of power lines and each adapted to operate in reverse directions when the connections between the power lines and said terminals are reversed, said system comprising conducting means for connecting one terminal of each of said motors in common, a switch having one pole for each of said other terminals on said motors and also having a common pole, said switch also being provided with contacting means for making an electrical connection between said common pole and any preselected other pole, each of said poles being connected to one of said other terminals of said motors whereby upon manipulation of said contacting means a direct electrical contact is established between said common pole and the selected motor, and actuating means for operatively connecting said power lines to said conducting means and common pole and adapted for selectable actuation whereby the connections of the power lines to the conducting means and the connecting common pole may be selectably interchanged thereby causing any pre-determined motor to operate in a preselected direction, said switch contacting means and actuating means being contained within one switch box for remote control operation of said motors.

4. The combination with the control system of claim 2 of a plurality of reversible electrical motors.

5. The combination with the control system of claim 2 of a plurality of reversible electrical motors, and a plurality of telescoping bleacher seats" provided with means for extending and retracting, one motor being operatively connected to each of said extending and retracting means and being adapted to cause said seats to extend when operated in one direction and to retract when operated in the reverse direction.

6. The combination with the control system of claim 2 of a plurality of reversible electrical motors, and a plurality of telescoping bleacher seats provided with means for extending and retracting, one motor being operatively connected to each of said extending and retracting means and being adapted to cause said seats to extend when 011- erated in one direction and to retract when operated in the reverse direction, said seats each being arranged in a room in aligned order so that when completely retracted said seats fit snugly against a wall, said switching means and actuating means being mounted in a box against said wall whereby to provide control from one point.

7. The combination with the control system of claim 2, of a plurality of reversible electrical motors, a plurality of telescoping bleacher seats provided with means for extending and retracting, one motor being operatively connected to each of said extending and retracting means and being adapted to cause said seats to extend when operated in one direction and to retract when operated in the reverse direction, said seats each being arranged in a room in aligned order so that when completely retracted said seats fit snugly against a wall, said switching means and actuating means being mounted in a box against said wall whereby to provide control from one point, and keyoperated means operatively mounted on said box for selectably energizing and de-energizing said control system.

8. The combination with the control system of claim 2 of a plurality of reversible electrical motors, and a plurality of telescoping bleacher seats provided with means for extending and retracting, each of said motors being operatively connected to each of said extending and retracting means, and each of said motors also being operatively connected to said selectable means and actuating means of claim 2 for remote control operation of said motors, whereby said seats will extend when said motors are operated in one direction and retract when said motors are operated in the reverse direction.

9. The combination with the control system of claim 2 of a plurality of reversible electrical motors, and a plurality of telescoping bleacher seats provided with means for extending and retracting, each of said motors being operatively connected to each of said extending and retraeting means, and each of said motors also being operatively connected to said selectable means and actuating means of claim 2 for remote control operation of said motors, whereby said seats will extend when said motors are operated in one direction and retract when said motors are operated in the reverse direction, said seats being arranged in a room in aligned order so that when completely retracted said seats fit snugly against a wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,190,402 Curzon Feb. 13, 1940 6 Fell Oct. 27, 1942 Murray Sept. 14, 1948 Perrine June 3, 1952 Appleton Nov. 24, 1953 Verkuil Nov. 8, 1955 Brundage Oct. 2, 1956 Appleton Sept. 10, 1957 Guess May 13, 1958 Chervenka Jan. 27, 1959 Murphy Aug. 11, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS iAustria Dec. 10, 1949 

